About Me

I am the proud mother of 6 children. 5 of our children have autism. We do not feel our world has ended, but just begun. We do not chelate, intervene biochemically, give shots of any kind, practice ABA, etc.
We treat them as we treat any humanbeing. We treat them with kindness and respect and expect the same from them.
They are exceptional children.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

A MOTHER'S DAY....

To some mother's, Mother's Day is waking up in their bed with a tray of freshly made muffins and coffee. On that tray, is a beautiful long-stemmed rose with a Sunday newspaper. This lucky mother is allowed to sit in bed and gingerly read the paper...possibly even allowed to complete the very large Sunday crossword puzzle. Okay, back to reality..... I awoke on this Mother's Day to a mess of grated cheese on the floor.....coffee spilled on my counter.....pillow cushions thrown off the couch.....

I realize that some of my fans...the anonymous blog readers....accuse me of being negative about my children. I can assure you, when I write about my children, not one negative thought enters my head. What I write about is the reality of raising 6 children, 5 of whom happen to have been diagnosed with autism.

I have been given a huge responsibility to raise these amazing, gifted children. I have been chosen, so to speak, to make sure these children get the same chances any child in the world should have. My goal is to let my children know they can be whatever they want to be in life and no one or nothing can stop that. I have the responsibility to teach society that my children belong as much as anyone on this planet and they cannot stop them from achieving any goal they choose to have. My children have lofty dreams. I assume they get that from me. After all, I was going to marry David Cassidy and John Travolta at one point in my life.

I wake up every morning to 6 beautiful and gifted children....I still am in awe of each and every one of them. They each bring so much to me and our family. They are individually extraordinary, but together, they are magic.

As they grow up and start realizing their own dreams, I will be there to make sure they can achieve their dreams. There is absolutely nothing they cannot accomplish. I have tried very hard to make sure they are aware of this. That has been my job every day....but, it is even more sweet on Mother's Day.

7 comments:

Happy mother's day. Did you know you are a role model to me. When ever I feel exhausted by the extra energy required to raise one kid on the spectrum, I remind myself that there is someone out there raising six kids, five on whom are on the spectrum.

And what you say about raising our kids so that they can freely follow their dreams says it all for me, no mater who the child is.

Someone accused YOU of being NEGATIVE? Are they kidding? You are one of the most positive pro-autism people I've had the pleasure of reading about. In fact, watching your story and reading your words has made such a huge impact on me and has totally changed my viewpoint and my plans. I am no longer afraid of what people think of what I am doing. I no longer feel guilty explaining to others that I do not do X, Y, Z because I don't believe in it. I now believe that I was hand-selected for my amazing kids. I'm the only one that can do what I do. I'm the only one that knows them the way I do. I only have two, I think this is a piece of cake. My mom had seven kids, three or four were probably PDD or Asperger's (because we know what they are like as adults!). My job is not always easy but it is the best one I know!

I'm quite sure that you are WAY too busy to look at comments added to your older posts...but we really want to learn from you and your family.

From your Wednesday, February 07, 2007 post I commented the following:

We just started our own blog: Autism Bites, and the first comment we got referred your blog as being of possible interest to us.

BOY IS IT!

First I'll relate our story we tell people (an edited version geared to you, since your family is mentioned):

START OF STORY

We are the parents of six children diagnosed with the Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Each day is a challenge, something happens EVERY day. It was recommended that my wife be evaluated also. The Dr. said she is borderline clinically depressed and had generalized anxiety disorder (we weren't too surprised about that). She is taking Zoloft to help her through each day.

When we married we wanted a larger than average family. When each baby came we felt there was still one more little child waiting in Heaven to be a part of our family. After the sixth, that feeling was gone and we felt complete as a family. We didn't suspect something was going on, with the children, until the last baby was almost one year old. Also, we did not have an official diagnosis for all the children until November of 2006.

In February 2007 we watched YOUR episode of “Extreme Makeover Home Edition”, we enjoy it as a family to see if the family's story is as tough as our own. The show said that the family, they helped build a new home for, had the most documented Autistic children (5) for one family in the United States. My wife and I looked at each other, we have SIX documented Autistic children. It looks like WE have the most in the country, who knows maybe the world (isn't THAT special?!).

The 3 youngest are still in diapers and the 3 and 5 year old are completely non-verbal, they are also our biters (chomp!). We have to put them in backward one piece outfits to keep them from stripping and smearing their poop everywhere. Our 3 year old climbs on, breaks and rips EVERYTHING. His nickname we've given him is “The Destroyer” (like Conan the Destroyer).

We're trying hard to be the best parents our children need. Unfortunately our lack of space at home and our finances make it very difficult. I as the Father wish for a situation where I can stay home to help my wife cope, but I have to work of course. We came up with the idea of a website, with Autism Awareness t-shirts, where we hope earn a small income. The progress is slow. But by the grace of God we are hanging in there and hope that our example can help other Autistic parents.

END OF STORY

After your “Home Makeover” we've been trying to find a way to get a hold of the people at ABC to get a copy of the program and what they did for you. The talking computer could be great, we hope, for our 3 and 5 yr old. Who makes it? I saw another post that you may have access to DVD copies of your “Home Makeover”? If so what would be the cost to get one? We'd also like to talk with you and your husband to get ideas on dealing with many Autistic children. It looks like you've blazed the trail and, if we can, we'd like to learn from your experiences. Thanks!

I thought you might find this interesting as parents of MANY Autistic children. Our families story came out today on the front page above the fold of the Salt Lake City newspaper, The Deseret News. The story link is: http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660226195,00.html

Please check it out and comment on our blog: http://autismbitestheblog.blogspot.com/